Histology at SIU

Some milestones in the history of histology

Listed here are a few events which mark the emergence and development of histology as a scientific discipline (including microscopic anatomy and cell biology), with links to entries on the histological eponyms page.

1661
Marcello Malpighi describes blood moving through capillaries in living lung, confirming William Harvey's 1628 prediction of invisibly small pores connecting arteries with veins.

1665
The word cell is first used for a biological structure, in Robert Hook's Micrographia. (Hooke described cells as small empty chambers in thin slices of dry cork.)

1801
Xavier Bichat ("the father of histology") establishes the systematic study of tissues as a discipline within anatomy by describing twenty-one basic tissue types.

1819
Karl Mayer applies the word "histology" (German, Histologie) as the name for the new discipline founded by Bichat.

1839
Theodor Schwann establishes Cell Theory -- one of the cornerstones of modern biology -- with his publication of Mikroskopische Untersuchungen über die Uebereinstimmung in der Struktur und dem Wachsthum der Thiere und Pflanzen [Microscopic Studies on the Correspondence in the Structure and Growth of Animals and Plant].

1849 Arthur Hassall publishes the first English-language textbook of histology, The microscopic anatomy of the human body, in health and disease, with emphasis on vasculature as revealed by dye injection.

mid
1800s Throughout the Nineteenth Century, many workers developed and refined protocols for fixation, sectioning, and staining to prepare tissue samples for microscopic examination. For a contemporary account from 1911, see Encyclopedia Britannica on microtomy. Remarkably, Bichat (1771-1802) had established the discipline of histology without using a microscope.

1852 Rudolf von Kölliker ("the father of modern histology") published Handbuch der Gewebelehre des Menschen [Manual of human histology] whose several editions defined the field of histology into the Twentieth Century. Unlike the authors of prior texts (e.g., Mayer 1819 and Hassall 1849), Kölliker's comprehensive textbook emphasized cells as the basis for tissue structure.

1906 Santiago Ramón y Cajal is awarded the Nobel Prize (with Camillo Golgi) for his neuroanatomical studies. In his Nobel acceptance speech, Cajal defines the neuron doctrine, that nervous tissue like other tissues consists of individual cellular units.

1930s The invention of the electron microscope, together with development of improved protocols for fixation, sectioning, and staining, vastly increased the resolution obtainable for histological investigation.

Histological eponyms

Comments and questions: dgking@siu.edu

SIUC / School of Medicine / Anatomy / David King

https://histology.siu.edu/milestones.htm
Last updated: 24 February 2024 / dgk

1661	Marcello Malpighi describes blood moving through capillaries in living lung, confirming William Harvey's 1628 prediction of invisibly small pores connecting arteries with veins.

1665	The word cell is first used for a biological structure, in Robert Hook's Micrographia. (Hooke described cells as small empty chambers in thin slices of dry cork.)

1801	Xavier Bichat ("the father of histology") establishes the systematic study of tissues as a discipline within anatomy by describing twenty-one basic tissue types.

1819	Karl Mayer applies the word "histology" (German, Histologie) as the name for the new discipline founded by Bichat.

1839	Theodor Schwann establishes Cell Theory -- one of the cornerstones of modern biology -- with his publication of Mikroskopische Untersuchungen über die Uebereinstimmung in der Struktur und dem Wachsthum der Thiere und Pflanzen [Microscopic Studies on the Correspondence in the Structure and Growth of Animals and Plant].

1849	Arthur Hassall publishes the first English-language textbook of histology, The microscopic anatomy of the human body, in health and disease, with emphasis on vasculature as revealed by dye injection.

mid 1800s	Throughout the Nineteenth Century, many workers developed and refined protocols for fixation, sectioning, and staining to prepare tissue samples for microscopic examination. For a contemporary account from 1911, see Encyclopedia Britannica on microtomy. Remarkably, Bichat (1771-1802) had established the discipline of histology without using a microscope.

1852	Rudolf von Kölliker ("the *father of modern* histology*") published Handbuch der Gewebelehre des Menschen* [Manual of human histology] whose several editions defined the field of histology into the Twentieth Century. Unlike the authors of prior texts (e.g., Mayer 1819 and Hassall 1849), Kölliker's comprehensive textbook emphasized *cells* as the basis for tissue structure.

1906	Santiago Ramón y Cajal is awarded the Nobel Prize (with Camillo Golgi) for his neuroanatomical studies. In his Nobel acceptance speech, Cajal defines the neuron doctrine, that nervous tissue like other tissues consists of individual cellular units.

1930s	The invention of the electron microscope, together with development of improved protocols for fixation, sectioning, and staining, vastly increased the resolution obtainable for histological investigation.